tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-150066942024-03-07T01:37:07.513-05:00RoeSpot - More Coffee, Please...Some knitting, some snacking, some TV and books. Maybe some zombies.Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589347913150864946noreply@blogger.comBlogger693125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15006694.post-14666850572422578672014-01-22T00:59:00.001-05:002014-01-22T00:59:21.659-05:00"A Little Consideration, A Little Thought for Others, Makes All the Difference".The quote is from A.A. Milne, who gave the world Winnie the Pooh and his friends. He attributes the quote to my second-favorite character, Eeyore, the maudlin stuffed donkey. (My favorite, oddly enough, is his polar opposite, the manically happy Tigger - armchair psychologists, go for it.) I needed this quote today, because it was a rough day.<br />
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Aside from some family and personal issues that are slowly working themselves out - just taking forever to get to it, like picking at a knot to unravel - today was a day I wish I could have hit fast-forward on.<br />
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Three months ago, a young, nonverbal, autistic teenage boy left his school and disappeared. As a mother, it was a nightmare to even consider. Not knowing where your baby is, compounded with the knowledge that he couldn't even speak to call out to you, to call for help... I'm having difficulty even writing this, it upsets me so much. This boy was from my neighborhood. He lived about two blocks away from me. I pass his building all the time. I may have passed him and his family on the street, dined in the same pizzeria or Chinese food restaurant as they did, stood on line with his mom at the drugstore as we loaded up on cough medicine or Band-Aids, as moms do, when you have a home with children.<br />
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He loved trains. He lived right near a Long Island Rail Road overpass. I took pictures there all the time for my friend's son, who also loves trains. Who was thrilled that I texted his mom with a train that was passing at that moment - "It's happening in real time!" For the past three months, every time I have walked across that overpass, I have looked. Looked for a sign - maybe some blankets. Cans of food. A jacket. Something I could find to say, "Hey - he's right here!" All I'd find were bushes, and the odd can of cat food someone left out for the strays.<br />
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I wanted him to be found. When the days grew shorter and colder, I prayed he'd be found - maybe he wandered onto a train and found himself upstate? Maybe even in Connecticut, or New Jersey?<br />
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It got to a point where I had to look away from the shop windows in my neighborhood. From the information booth in my local subway station. His smiling face tortured me, because I couldn't imagine what his family - his mother - were doing to get through each day.<br />
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You know how this story ended today. I'm grateful for the snow. I hope it keeps the news vans away. I couldn't imagine having to contend with the sharks when all I want to do is bleed.<br />
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It really sucks to want to do something when there's absolutely nothing you can do. But then I remembered, there's always something. Something kind always touches someone in some way. I can't help that family, but I can do something to help someone else.<br />
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Tonight, surfing Facebook, I came across this picture and note, from the <a href="http://dosomething.org/">DoSomething</a> page:<br />
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"<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18px;">Temperatures are plummeting tonight in Ontario, so a kind soul <br />has been placing these handmade scarfs around the city."</span></div>
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That is amazing. Imagine, just making scarves and handing them out for people to take as they need? And then, I remembered <a href="http://www.fc2success.org/how-you-can-help/red-scarf-project/">The Red Scarf Project</a><span id="goog_160598238"></span><span id="goog_160598239"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a>, where knitters and crocheters make red scarves, according to Foster Care to Success' guidelines, as part of a care package that will go to an 18 year-old teen who is aging out of foster care. The Red Scarf Project will accept donations again in September, but I can have quite a few scarves ready by then. I can't bring Avonte home to his parents, but I can help keep other kids warm.<br />
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Rest in Peace, Avonte. You deserved so much more.Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589347913150864946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15006694.post-58800292624806191532014-01-01T19:21:00.004-05:002014-01-01T19:21:59.507-05:00So what am I knitting?I've been knitting quite a bit lately, and making time to knit at home, in addition to my weekly knitting group time, has been a source of great relaxation again. I just made Wee Gozer a pair of mittens for his little hands, which have gone over very well - he loves them! I used <a href="http://indiedyer.blogspot.com/2008/12/toddler-mittens.html">Indie Dyer's toddler mittens pattern</a> - I didn't realize how hard it was to find toddler sized mitten patterns, so I was very happy to find this one!<br />
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I've also been working on Will's blanket. The black and orange one I knit him almost 10 (!!!) years ago finally collapsed on him, so I thought I'd knit him a nice, warm blanket that befits a teen, and this <a href="http://www.gallentine.org/Knitting/boysafghan.html">Boys Afghan pattern </a>was just the thing. My friend Julie referred to it recently as the "Big Green Forever", which is now it's official name - it's gorgeous, but this thing is taking <b>forever</b>. But as long as I remind myself it's the journey, not the destination, I'm good.<br />
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I'll keep working on these, but I've got loads of stuff on deck for this year. My buddy Nancy and I are being totally goofy/cheesy/fangirly and will knit up the <a href="http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEdf12/PATTbff.php">BFF cowl from Knitty</a>, with a fangirl twist - we're going to work the cowls in our favorite supervillains colors. And Julie, Nancy and I are going to be working on a KAL together, Ysolda Teague's <a href="http://ysolda.com/blog/2013/12/20/follow-your-arrow-a-mystery-kal">"Follow Your Arrow"</a>. It was a New Year's treat to myself, and I'm really looking forward to it.<br />
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You know what I miss? Knitting Swaps. I used to love those. I'm hoping to join one (or heck, start one up) once I have a paycheck or two under my belt. Anyone interested in one?Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589347913150864946noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15006694.post-40149274221018612612014-01-01T18:56:00.000-05:002014-01-01T18:56:09.817-05:00Welcome, 2014. I've been waiting for you.So 2013 was not the best year. It wasn't even a good year. It was an okay year at best, and a complete crap year at worst. Hell, I wasn't even supposed to be here - because 2012 was a pretty dark damned year, too.<br />
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But 2014 is going to be different, and I want to go into this year with positive energy. So here are the things that happened in 2013 that kept me here past my planned expiration date:<br />
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- I continued embracing comic books, which helped save my life back in 2012. By writing for my friend's site, <a href="http://whatchareading.com/">WhatchaReading</a>, I became even more steeped in comics and comics culture, met some amazing people and read some fantastic stories that kept me going forward. It was my escape hatch and my adrenaline shot.<br />
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- I read like a maniac. I went after books with an appetite I hadn't had in a while. Steampunk, sci-fi, nonfiction, fantasy, cookbooks - you name it, I read it. I went back to blogging my book reviews for kids, and I discovered, thanks to my friend, Stacey, the joy of Overdrive. So now my local library system's e-circ may be going through the roof. You're welcome, Queens Library.<br />
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- I volunteered. I do work for <a href="http://www.readingwithpictures.org/">Reading with Pictures</a>, and even got a full pass to New York Comic Con because of it. I keep meeting great people, and learning new things. I am forever grateful. I also volunteer as a children's librarian at the Rego Park Queens Library (my neighborhood), where I truly feel like I've found my calling. I love working with the babies, toddlers, schoolkids, and tweens. I love all of it.<br />
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- Related to that, I got my Master's Degree in Library Science after four years! I climbed the mountain, and I did it through a pregnancy and nursing an infant. I am pretty damned proud. And I got my public librarian's certification.<br />
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- My friends kept me connected. I am blessed to have close friends that kept me going. You all know who you are. My Ladies Who Lunch let me throw pity parties for myself as needed, never judging and only offering solutions when the situation presented them - otherwise, they were all ears. Sometimes, you just need someone to let you cry. Meme Mondays gave me a reason to hate Mondays a little less. My weekly knitting group was an oasis in my week. And Fangirl Friday became a daily thing, which proved, as Doctor Who once said, that time is "wibbly wobbly". You guys are all the best, and I adore every one of you.<br />
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So what's next? Well, I have a job! No kidding! I accepted an offer from a great nonprofit to be a consulting librarian. I'm going to help kids and parents love books. I'm knitting regularly again, and every day is looking a little better. Some days are harder than others, but it's going to be a good year. Make it so.Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589347913150864946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15006694.post-19468636576843922442013-12-20T23:18:00.003-05:002013-12-20T23:18:36.477-05:00I haven't blog-faded...It's been a challenging year. It's been a challenging almost two years, to be honest. Let's hope that 2014 ends up being the year I thought 2013 would be.<br />
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I'm sure I'll be doing some catch-up in the posts that will follow, so a long and drawn out post now isn't going to happen. I am still knitting, I am still reviewing books, and I am still drinking a lot of coffee.<br />
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I wasn't sure what I wanted this blog to be, since I now publish my kids' book reviews at my site, <a href="http://momreadit.wordpress.com/">Mom Read It</a> and my comic reviews at <a href="http://whatchareading.com/">WhatchaReading?</a>. But I think I still want to keep a place on the Web to talk about life, knitting, and everything in between. I've had this little nook for a long time now, and I'd hate to see it fade away. I'm on Facebook and Twitter, but there's something to be said about talking for longer than 140 characters. So I guess my first resolution for the new year is to visit with you more often.<br />
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For now? I'm knitting a pair of mittens for Wee Gozer, my 18-month-old. I'm working on a cabled blanket for Will. Pictures to follow. I'm experiencing a renaissance in reading, thanks to the Nook I received for my graduation. It helps when I'm running after Wee Gozer all day long, and it comes in really handy when I want to read in bed at night and not wake anyone up.<br />
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That's about all for now, but there will be more to come.Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589347913150864946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15006694.post-25226983723807267772013-05-01T21:34:00.001-04:002013-05-01T21:34:22.808-04:00Of Superheroes, Comics, Knitting, and Life.So last year was... interesting. I was dealing with a lot of pressure, not the least of which was having a baby 9 years after my last one was born, and all the adjustments that come with being pregnant again. Oh, and finishing up graduate school while pregnant, with the impending stress of my final two semesters coming while dealing with an infant, and all the sleep-deprivation goodness that comes with that territory.<br />
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Bottom line: I needed something to take the edge off, because it was ON, and it was on, big time. There was no time for novels or knitting anymore, two things that I always turned to for stress relief. I wasn't working anymore - a part-time schedule with a full-time infant? It wasn't in the cards. I was climbing the walls.<br />
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And then a friend - a fellow fangirl, mom, and knitter, who would become an even better friend in the days to come - casually mentioned that my favorite comic book character, Gambit from the X-Men, was back with his own title.<br />
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I hadn't picked up a comic book in years, but Gambit? Well... that may just be worth a trip to the comic book store. And what's one title a month, right? I could read a comic in no time. I missed my comic books, especially since losing my mind when The Avengers hit movie theatres that May. Of course, my friend upped the ante by sending me the first two issues, so now I had no excuse. I hit my local comic book store, feeling very freaked out about my 12 year absence. And I walked out with Gambit, and a few other titles.</div>
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Almost a year later, I review comic books. I go to conventions. I have a lot more than Gambit on my pull list (it's a reserved title file at your comic book store). I love superheroes. They make it all better, no matter how bad the situation seems to be. There are days when I really need them, and they're always there with their iron suits, enchanted hammers and mutant powers, no matter what time of day or night I need them. </div>
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So, knitting. Well, that's been a journey back, too. I don't get much in the way of knitting time at home these days, but I am lucky enough to have friends who take a night out of their week, when we converge on a small coffee shop in the city and knit for a few hours. We talk about crazy things, we talk about geeky things, we laugh a whole lot, and we knit. Some days, most of my week revolves around counting down to knit night. I've been working on a scarf for almost three months - something I'd normally be able to whip out in a week or two - but I'm learning that it's all about the process. Kind of like being a new mom again. </div>
Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589347913150864946noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15006694.post-1021583035362373562013-04-28T13:17:00.000-04:002013-04-28T13:17:02.668-04:00Returning to Life, Kind Of.So here I am, after four years. I've finished my final project, and will be receiving my Master's degree in about two and a half weeks. I mean, I won't be at graduation - a flight to California just isn't in the cards right now - but I will be graduating, and bringing this journey to a close. Or a crossroads, depending on how you see things.<br />
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So what happened over four years? I went into grad school. I lost one job. I found another. I had a baby. I lost another job. I rediscovered comic books. I started a few blogs for class, one of which I'm keeping. I knit a lot. I juggled.<br />
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So yes, I'm back, and yes, you can expect to hear from me more often. But there will be a few changes, so here's the obligatory housekeeping post to tell you what's what.<br />
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This blog will be the place I talk about life, knitting, and overall, books and comics that I'm reading. This is the "Roe Blog", if you like that sort of thing.<br />
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The book reviews will be updated at <a href="http://momreadit.wordpress.com/">Mom Read It</a>. Right now, I'm posting the ages 0-4 book reviews I worked on for my Materials 0-4 class, so if you are interested in that sort of thing, that's where to look. Reviews of middle grade (ages 9-12) and teen/YA books and media are already there, so feel free to wander around and check it out.<br />
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In other news, I review comics now! I've been reviewing comics on my friend Chuck's blog at <a href="http://whatchareading.com/">What'cha Reading</a> for a few months now, and having a blast. Again, if you like that sort of thing, come on over and visit, there are some great people reviewing some fun books.<br />
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More to come soon, I just wanted to get this sorted out.Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589347913150864946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15006694.post-64851256504724068712012-12-14T19:14:00.002-05:002012-12-14T19:14:20.107-05:00Aaaand... DONE.For now, that is. I've finished my last two classes in my grad program. It was a grueling semester, but it's done and I'm finishing strong, something I was terrified of <i>not</i> doing when I undertook two classes while taking care of an infant. I'm relieved, and so grateful to my family and friends that saw me through this. And now, the winter break, as I prepare for my final project: the ePortfolio. I've already started getting myself organized for this, as it's a gauntlet of writing over 12 weeks. It can be done.<br />
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In other news, I've decided that for now, I will not be splitting the blog content. I will continue to post book reviews at my <a href="http://momreadit.wordpress.com/">Mom Read It</a> blog on WordPress, as that's garnered a following thanks to Twitter and LinkedIn notifications. I may split the blog content in the future. Again, if you feel strongly either way, let me know. I also blog comic book reviews over at my friend Chuck's blog, <a href="http://whatchareading.com/">Whatcha Reading?</a> I just posted one for Lance "Bishop" Henriksen's new undertaking, <i>To Hell You Ride</i>, which looks like it's going to be some really good stuff. Head over and check the reviews out if you get a chance!<br />
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I inadvertently discovered today that an article I had published in <i><a href="http://librarystudentjournal.org/index.php/lsj">Library Student Journal</a></i> last year is on the syllabi for two different library school classes. Talk about a surreal moment, right?<br />
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I've also picked up my knitting needles again, which is such a huge relief. I missed the therapeutic feel of the yarn running through my fingers and the comforting rhythm of the patterns. I love the little "click clack" of the bamboo needles. It's an altogether relaxing experience that I denied myself for far too long. I'm working on the <a href="http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEff11/PATTcommuter.php">Commuter </a>fingerless gloves from Knitty's First Fall issue this year. I'll have pictures up soon. Promise.Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589347913150864946noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15006694.post-33518448879261734612012-11-25T13:52:00.000-05:002012-11-25T13:52:22.979-05:00A Quick Update...I've spent the past few days loading up book reviews I wrote for my Materials for Teens class, so all my reviews are in one place. Please look through and enjoy. Or disagree - we all know books are highly subjective, as well they should be.<br />
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I'm also guest blogging now, giving comic book reviews on my buddy Chuck's site, <a href="http://whatchareading.com/">What'cha Reading?</a> Please go check his site out - he provides some really strong commentary on an amazing range of titles. His taste runs a lot more indie than mine, and he's introduced me to quite a few new books in the eons since we've known one another. I've only got one review up now - the Marvel Now kinda-relaunch of my favorite Merc with a Mouth, <a href="http://whatchareading.com/2012/11/19/deadpool-1-dead-presidential-goodness/">Deadpool</a> - but as this hellish semester comes to a close, I plan to remedy this and get to work, bringing superhero goodness to the site.<br />
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I have also been thinking (always a scary thought). While I fully intend to continue blogging about more than just book reviews, but I don't know if that will alienate anyone who comes here specifically for reviews. So do me a favor, and weigh in - would you prefer to read the content separately? Should I keep it all in one spot for ease of browsing? Comment and let me know.<br />
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More to come soon - but first, a paper due tomorrow demands my attention.Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589347913150864946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15006694.post-68309566371740213792012-11-22T20:51:00.002-05:002012-11-22T20:51:28.054-05:00Magazine Review: Game Informer (Sunrise Publications)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Recommended for ages 13+</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Subscription Rate</strong></span>: $19.98/1 year/ Available in print or digital format.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Frequency of Publication</span>: </strong>Monthly</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Game Informer</em> features articles on video games. It covers console gaming, handheld gaming, and online and PC gaming. The magazine publishes articles about game consoles, strategies, game reviews, industry news, interviews with industry personalities, new and upcoming releases, and reader contributions. With over 7.5 million subscribers, it is the highest circulated video game magazine and has been listed as the fourth largest overall magazine. GameStop Corp., the parent company of the video game retailer, provides subscriptions through the stores’ PowerUp Rewards card, GameStop’s customer apprecation program. In addition to the discounts afforded members by using the card is access to the exclusive content and pre-order opportunities on the <em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Game Informer</em> <a href="http://www.gameinformer.com/" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">website.</a><strong style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></strong></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Game Informer</em> is the go-to magazine for anyone interested in video games. The magazine’s covers are always dynamic, usually featuring a spotlighted, hotly anticipated video game like recent favorites Assassin’s Creed and Halo 4 (pictured). The articles are written by journalists who are also dedicated video game fans, giving a depth to game coverage in the magazine. Content covers games rated “E” for everyone, like Pokemon and the Lego series of games to the rated “M” for Mature games like Call of Duty and The Walking Dead. Readers can expect well-written articles and interviews with smart insights.</span></span></div>
Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589347913150864946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15006694.post-5128718590472242902012-11-22T20:48:00.004-05:002012-11-22T20:48:26.833-05:00Book Review: Staying Fat for Sarah Burns, by Chris Crutcher (2003 edition, HarperCollins)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGDv5EP4D10gC79xvjn5JxqnVOl783-rrqrnaCAbS3B8tvbCkrzbNyTFTa5Kq9f19YLNwMvgVm0uZGsuRB5l9iS5oNq-uFf_48oM99qV4745NpG7AHsu0_Jze2249au6rkMkKL/s1600/staying+fat+for+sarah+byrnes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGDv5EP4D10gC79xvjn5JxqnVOl783-rrqrnaCAbS3B8tvbCkrzbNyTFTa5Kq9f19YLNwMvgVm0uZGsuRB5l9iS5oNq-uFf_48oM99qV4745NpG7AHsu0_Jze2249au6rkMkKL/s320/staying+fat+for+sarah+byrnes.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
Recommended for ages 13+<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Eric and Sarah Byrnes have been friends since they were little. Originally connected by their outcast status – Sarah is disfigured by burn scars that she allegedly sustained as a toddler when she pulled a pot of boiling spaghetti on herself, Eric was overweight – they seem to be growing apart as Eric develops more of a social life. He tried to stay overweight for her so that she wouldn’t think she’d leave him, but he joined the swim team and has slimmed down despite his best efforts. One day, Sarah Byrnes becomes catatonic in class and is sent to a hospital where she refuses to speak. Eric visits her every day and tries to talk to her. He knows she is hiding something, but Sarah Byrnes – one of the toughest, angriest girls he’s ever met – is not ready to let him get that close. Sarah Byrnes’ dad is looming closer and closer, though, and Eric has a very bad feeling about him. Can Eric get Sarah Byrnes the help she needs before her father gets to them both?</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes</em> tackles a lot of difficult ground: child abuse, neglect and abandonment; obesity; Christian fundamentalism gone wild, and abortion are but some of the ground he covers. Chris Crutcher is not afraid to take his characters to places that may be uncomfortable to talk about, but necessary to be aware of. His characters are realistic and their dialogue, while heavy-handed at points, keeps the pages turning. He tackles inner angst and rage well and his voice will speak to teens. Each of the main characters spend the book going through a journey of self-discovery and learning to find his or her own voice – something that every teen should know how to do.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes</i> has received numerous awards and accolades, among them, the </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">California Young Reader Medal – Young Adult (1997); Joan Fassler Memorial Book Award for Best Medical-Related Children’s Book (1995); American Library Association (ALA) Best Book for Young Adults (1994); South Dakota LIbrary Association Young Adult Reading Program (YARP) Best Books (1994);</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;"> </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">School Library Journal</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">Best Book (1993); Number three on the ALA’s Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books in 2000-2009; ALA Best Book for Young Adults;</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;"> </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">School Library Journal</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">Best Book of the Year;</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;"> </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Kirkus Reviews</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">Choice;</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;"> </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">New York Times</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">Outstanding Book of the Year, and the Margaret A. Edwards Award.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Chris Crutcher is a YA author and family therapist. He is among the most challenged YA authors, with 35 challenges between 1995 and 2011. His author</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><a href="http://www.chriscrutcher.com/" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">website </a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">includes a list of book challenges, information about his books, teaching and reading guides for educators, contact and school visit information, an FAQ, and extras including printable posters.</span></div>
Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589347913150864946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15006694.post-25833026499685453942012-11-22T20:45:00.006-05:002012-11-22T20:45:34.237-05:00Book Review: The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier (2000 edition, Random House)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihEqwQE1bYhyphenhyphen73C76DLvmLlFLD1MLF33OQ6vx69-mLagfqzuJNZacocpw0koIVBnCv4MDTVNsEjE4ojNysj0os-mMiAgsJHwEboL9wtSc8_DLaKBKojFIxsl_34PC7Xc66rBKJ/s1600/the+chocolate+war.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihEqwQE1bYhyphenhyphen73C76DLvmLlFLD1MLF33OQ6vx69-mLagfqzuJNZacocpw0koIVBnCv4MDTVNsEjE4ojNysj0os-mMiAgsJHwEboL9wtSc8_DLaKBKojFIxsl_34PC7Xc66rBKJ/s320/the+chocolate+war.jpg" width="194" /></a></div>
Recommended for ages 14+<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Still reeling from his mother’s death, Jeremy Renault starts high school at the private Trinity School as a freshmen. Trinity’s secret society, The Vigils, targets him for an “assignment” – to refuse to sell chocolates for the first week of the school chocolate sale. After the week is up, Jeremy continues to refuse to sell the chocolates, taking a stand for himself. The Vigils, quietly sanctioned by the school’s principal, Brother Leon, begins a campaign of bullying and harassment in order to save face and force Jeremy to comply. In 1985, Cormier published a sequel, <em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Beyond the Chocolate War.</em></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Chocolate War </em>is an often brutal book in its depictions of psychological and physical abuse. Jeremy and his friends endure their assignments from the vigils and all the guilt that comes with the consequences of their actions. Archie, the Vigil who creates the “assignments”, is unsettling in his cold ability to dole out punishment to students and antagonistic to his teachers. We never get any reasons why he is the way he is – he simply is. The most fleshed out character here is Jeremy, because he is the focal point of the book. His grief over his mother, his frustration with his distant father, and the derision he endures day after day in school can be difficult to read, but Cormier creates a respect for Jeremy by his sheer force of will. Although originally published in 1974, the book’s themes are just as relevant today.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>The Chocolate War </i>was number </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">three on the American Library Association’s (ALA) Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books in 2000-2009; it has also been designated as an ALA Best Book for Young Adults;</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;"> </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">School Library Journal</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">Best Book of the Year;</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;"> </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Kirkus Reviews </em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">Choice;</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;"> </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">New York Times</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">Outstanding Book of the Year; and received a Margaret A. Edwards Award.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Robert Cormier was a YA author and journalist who preferred to write about the harsher realities in life, as seen in his more famous books,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Chocolate War</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I Am the Cheese,</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Cheese Stands Alone</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. He passed away in 2000; the Internet Public Library has a</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><a href="http://www.ipl.org/div/askauthor/Cormier.html" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">link to a biography and interview</a> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">with him from 1996. </span></div>
Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589347913150864946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15006694.post-27501425861532984532012-11-21T22:31:00.002-05:002012-11-21T22:31:53.481-05:00Book Review: Weetzie Bat, by Francesca Lia Block (1989, HarperCollins)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEv1SEwAD2FYzUN4c2lwqApo99BxHPGz4VPpiyP9cwQe7qGKYfo0OKoZ1rs26-qmbFr312R578t7I0TYaej10S0_qioCYnm2gv3GO9wJ9mWtzZAuMQEuWrcVkNOiNLayaUsYKg/s1600/Weetziebat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEv1SEwAD2FYzUN4c2lwqApo99BxHPGz4VPpiyP9cwQe7qGKYfo0OKoZ1rs26-qmbFr312R578t7I0TYaej10S0_qioCYnm2gv3GO9wJ9mWtzZAuMQEuWrcVkNOiNLayaUsYKg/s1600/Weetziebat.jpg" /></a></div>
Recommended for ages 14+<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Weetzie Bat has no intention of fitting in. She is a high school student in Los Angeles, and embraces her punk rock style and attitude. She and Dirk, the best-looking guy in school (who also happens to be gay), are best friends who want to find love but always end up with the wrong guys. Weetzie is desperate to find a lasting love, especially after her parents’ divorce and her dad’s move across the country to New York. When she meets up with a genie who offers her three wishes, she wishes for a Duck (boyfriend) for Dirk, a Secret Agent Lover Man for herself, and a beautiful house for them all to live happily ever after in. Her wishes are granted, and her thoughts turn to having a baby. Secret Agent Lover Man does not want to be a father and leaves, so Weetzie turns to Duck and Dirk, who agree to father a baby with her; she gives birth to a little girl they name Cherokee, whom she dresses in feathers. When Secret Agent Lover Man returns, claiming that he loves Weetzie too much to stay away, he brings some baggage with him, and that could ruin Weetzie’s wish for a happily ever after. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Set in a surreal, dream-like Los Angeles, <em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Weetzie Bat</em> is a hard book to pin down: Is it all a dream? Is it a metaphor? On the surface, <em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Weetzie Bat</em> is the story of two friends who don’t quite fit in who decide to build their own lives together in a the most surreal of landscapes – Los Angeles. Under the surface, there is a bit more happening; Weetzie’s desire for family and a happily ever after stems from her parents’ divorce; Secret Agent Lover Man’s mysterious illness could be a sexually transmitted disease (some reviews have alluded to AIDS); there are issues with teen parenthood and sexuality, and LGBT teen issues all packed into 109 pages. It is not an easy book to read, but it will generate a lot of discussion.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Weetzie Bat </i>has received numerous awards and accolades, including designation as an </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ALA Best of the Best Books for Young Adults; ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers; ALA Best Book for Young Adults; Parents’ Choice Gold Award; Phoenix Award, Children’s Literature Association (2009).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Weetzie Bat</em> was author Francesca Lia Block’s first novel, written while she was in college. She is primarily a YA author who concentrates on the Los Angeles area and a recipient of the 2005 Margaret A. Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Library Association (ALA). Her author <a href="http://www.francescaliablock.com/" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">website </a>offers links to information about her books, reviews, clips from book readings, workshops, and contact information.</span></span></div>
Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589347913150864946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15006694.post-63845192110797708212012-11-21T22:27:00.001-05:002012-11-21T22:27:11.802-05:00Video Game Review: Mass Effect 3 (2012, Electronic Arts)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvNndlF3U4krv0aMaopmB4zfwZhV-e4n0KPTD8cWI6TTLOf0RR5cJL16xP7jDPV11aTDRoViYgAR1l86n54SB7KlmbHm169ybvGB8uH9AfOpEI0AVzb3Qxv5OQ6uxMJj1YDi8D/s1600/Mass+Effect.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvNndlF3U4krv0aMaopmB4zfwZhV-e4n0KPTD8cWI6TTLOf0RR5cJL16xP7jDPV11aTDRoViYgAR1l86n54SB7KlmbHm169ybvGB8uH9AfOpEI0AVzb3Qxv5OQ6uxMJj1YDi8D/s320/Mass+Effect.jpg" width="231" /></a></div>
Recommended for ages 15+<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Platforms</strong></span>: PC (Microsoft Windows); PlayStation 3; X-Box 360</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rating</strong></span>: M for Mature – violence, mild sexuality.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Mass Effect 3</em> is the third in the <em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Mass Effect </em>video game trilogy. The series tells the story of Systems Alliance Commander Shepard as he fights against a race of machines called The Reapers, bent on global domination and destruction. In <em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Mass </em><em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Effect 3</em>, the story begins on Earth with Commander Shepard relieved of duty, but later brought back with the mission of uniting the galaxy’s forces to stop the Reapers. Shepard liberates former squadmates and goes on goodwill missions throughout the galaxy in order to get help and resources for the war.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Although a rated “M” for mature game, the<em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Mass Effect </em>series is very popular with teens as a role-playing game that offers the ability for multiplayer gaming through gaming networks like PlayStation and X-Box. There are missions to complete and a “choose your own adventure” feel in that every decision brings its own consequences, and these can change with each play. Downloadable content provides additional quests, maps, characters, and weapons. Gameplay is rapid, with interludes of content to flesh out the <em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Mass Effect</em> storyline. Controversy over the game’s ending led EA Games and game developer BIoware to release additional downloadable content during Summer 2012 that will expand the ending with an epilogue.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Mass Effect</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">series has won over 80 awards, including the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences’s RPG (role-playing game) of the Year at the 11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards;</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">New York Times; </em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Game of the Year: 2007 Game Awards; IGN’s Best Story and Best RPG: Best of 2007;</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">GamePro’s</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Editors’ Choice 2007 RPG of the Year and Developer of the Year; and Best of E3 2006 from LifeTeen.com.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Mass_Effect_Wiki" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Mass Effect</em> Wiki </a>is a comprehensive online encyclopedia for the game’s universe and is a very helpful compendium of information anyone interested in learning about the game or related media, including comic books and novels. It is available in six languages: German, Spanish, French, Russian, Polish and Hungarian. The <a href="http://www.completemasseffect.com/index.php?title=Mass_Effect" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">Complete <em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Mass Effect</em> Encyclopedia </a>is another online resource that welcomes <em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Mass Effect</em> gamers; their content tends to remain game-related, with articles about alien races, ships, characters and skills.</span></span></div>
Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589347913150864946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15006694.post-23828546668174734012012-11-21T22:23:00.000-05:002012-11-21T22:23:16.118-05:00Book Review: Beautiful Lies, by Jessica Warman (2012, Walker Books for Young Readers)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi78SmRBG396vA_Ts-AluFGq3S8Bzvb8tA6lF38kVuUM1mSBdSRCKZBTlP8gaSwXKAhINXUn6YHIK10v0bzawj-xDbkDXubW9UYoKSqBmLCraIHqw77MvXQEkXu3WEdbk8tyK0e/s1600/beautiful+lies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi78SmRBG396vA_Ts-AluFGq3S8Bzvb8tA6lF38kVuUM1mSBdSRCKZBTlP8gaSwXKAhINXUn6YHIK10v0bzawj-xDbkDXubW9UYoKSqBmLCraIHqw77MvXQEkXu3WEdbk8tyK0e/s320/beautiful+lies.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
Recommended for ages 14+<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When a twin sister mysteriously disappears, her sister is left to find her before it’s too late. All she has to go on is the mysterious injuries that show up on her body to let her know that her sister is still alive.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 20px;">Alice and Rachel are a very rare type of identical twins. Mirror images of one another, they are so identical that even their family and friends have trouble telling them apart – which comes in handy for the girls, as they like to switch places. Rachel and Alice are connected in a way that no one else knows about – when one twin experiences pain, the other will manifest the same injury. Orphaned at a young age and living with their aunt and uncle, one twin grew up wild and one more conservative. When one of the twins disappears during an Oktoberfest celebration and the other starts experiencing physical injuries, she begs her family to call the police and search for her sister. But with a history of mental illness in the family and a penchant for running away, Rachel and Alice’s aunt and uncle are slow to react. The big question here is: which teen is actually the missing teen, and can her sister find her before it’s too late?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">Jessica Warman writes mysteries with a paranormal bent, and </span><em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Beautiful Lies</em><span style="line-height: 20px;"> is no exception. Taking the twin phenomenon one step further, Rachel and Alice are mirror-image twins who like to switch identities, already establishing unreliable narrators. Throw in a history of mental illness that affected the girls’ grandmother and mother, and once the narrator reveals that she may not be the twin the reader thinks she is, we have a real mystery on our hands – who is missing, Rachel or Alice? The narrative stumbles with the constant identity switching within the text may confuse readers more than keep them on their toes. The paranormal aspect fades in and out of the narrative and may appear inconsistent, which may leave readers feel like they have been left hanging. Overall, the pacing is good as is the writing, but it is difficult to become attached to any of the characters because the reader doesn’t really know who’s who.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Jessica Warman is a YA author whose books have been designated among the Best Books for Young Adults by the Young Adults Library Services Association (YALSA) and have achieved the Booklist Top 10. Her author</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><a href="http://jessicawarman.com/" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">website </a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">offers information about her books, contact information, and her blog.</span></div>
Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589347913150864946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15006694.post-77527676769479486422012-11-21T22:14:00.002-05:002012-11-21T22:14:17.320-05:00Book Review: Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland, by Sally M. Walker (2009, Lerner Books)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEUx4UtXNttdgJ43tzW1EGxs2yxf7WWgDqsFnL4W3l_AkWjK-r2PQZfM_rS6qf8EcOYw2vb84y5aLMHm_iRwjLEQKhWMI9_r0w1kXnYPnf8SFaJTHpBZSBHy9mrn8tG8QzVYYV/s1600/written-in-bone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEUx4UtXNttdgJ43tzW1EGxs2yxf7WWgDqsFnL4W3l_AkWjK-r2PQZfM_rS6qf8EcOYw2vb84y5aLMHm_iRwjLEQKhWMI9_r0w1kXnYPnf8SFaJTHpBZSBHy9mrn8tG8QzVYYV/s320/written-in-bone.jpg" width="249" /></a></div>
Recommended for ages 12+<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Beginning in 2005, a group of scientists ad forensic anthropologists began a dig in the Chesapeake Bay region.Written in Bonecovers the dig and the findings in both the Jamestown, Virginia and Colonial Maryland settlements. Using forensic techniques, anthropologists were able to learn a great deal about many of the skeletons unearthed at the digs, including approximate ages at death, possible causes of death, and whether or not the inhabitants had been in America long. Some of the skeletons were even identified.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The book is illustrated with color photos of skeletons, dig sites, and artifacts, as well as maps and documents dating from colonial-era America. An illustrated timeline walks readers through Colonial Jamestown and Maryland events relevant to the digs, all the way through to 2009 when the Smithsonian’s “Written in Bone” exhibit opened to the public. Ms. Walker provides case studies on several skeletons excavated at the digs. Beginning with the discovery of the burial sites, each of the case studies goes through the process of discovery, unearthing, and using the bones and any surrounding material – dirt, arrowheads, vegetation – to learn more about the person, including their identity.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The author presents a great deal of fascinating scientific information and draws readers into a CSI-like investigation of the skeletons. One skeleton, discovered in a trash pit of a colonial home, is found to have likekly been that of a teenage indentured servant who may have been beaten to death. These stories, along with the compelling photographs, will keep the attention of reluctant readers as well as avid history fans.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Written in Bone</i> was a </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Finalist for the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Excellence in Nonfiction Award; a Finalist for the American Library Association (ALA) Notable Children’s Book (2010); a Finalist for the Orbis Pictus Recommended Book (2010); it was designated one of the ALA Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults (2010), and a Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People (2010).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Author Sally M. Walker studied archaeology in college, and primarily writes nonfiction books for readers of all ages, from early readers to older (middle grade-high school) readers. Her</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><a href="http://www.sallymwalker.com/home.html" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">author website</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">provides information on school visits, about all of her books, contact information and a biography. The</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><a href="http://anthropology.si.edu/writteninbone/" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">Written in Bone exhibit </a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">is a 4-year Smithsonian exhibit that will close in January 2013 with a robust website featuring videos, a webcomic, and case files on colonists profiled in the book. The publisher’s</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><a href="http://www.lernerbooks.com/writteninbone/" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">website </a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">offers more information, including links to the exhibit, downloadable research tips from the author, a</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Written in Bone</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">timeline of events, and a bookmark.</span></div>
Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589347913150864946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15006694.post-80797340231224885362012-11-20T22:16:00.005-05:002012-11-20T22:16:49.759-05:00Book Review: The Death Catchers, by Jennifer Anne Kogler (2011, Walker Books for Young Readers)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4ntWV2oin3M72BTI3JzEceBIIsZ3vaFaxbawVy7bVvLbgiLTd09bC9_6wZo60In1laOXRA2-PDo0wh4ZVgXNEpw6FQxJxqvN7g1wVYC73nsKB9sht8BiA9el9KDift-oGvMG_/s1600/death+catchers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4ntWV2oin3M72BTI3JzEceBIIsZ3vaFaxbawVy7bVvLbgiLTd09bC9_6wZo60In1laOXRA2-PDo0wh4ZVgXNEpw6FQxJxqvN7g1wVYC73nsKB9sht8BiA9el9KDift-oGvMG_/s320/death+catchers.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
Recommended for ages 13+<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Lizzy Mortimer learns about her special gift on her fourteenth Halloween. As she reads the newspaper, the letters on the page rearrange themselves into an obituary for her best friend, Jodi, who isn’t dead – yet. After Lizzy and her grandmother, Bizzy (short for Beatrice) save Jodi from the path of an oncoming car;, Bizzy reveals to Lizzy that she is a Hand of Fate, descended from a long line of women hailing from Morgan le Fay of King Arthur fame. They have a gift that allows them to foresee when someone close to them is due to die before their time, and they have some time to try and stop it; the name of the person at risk also burns itself into the Hand of Fate’s arm until the person is no longer in danger. When Lizzy’s next “death specter” appears – the school crush, Drake Westfall – things get even complicated; Drake is the Last Descendant of King Arthur and Vivienne le Mort, one of Morgan le Fay’s sisters, wants him dead.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Written as a school essay for Lizzy’s teacher,<em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Death Catchers</em> is written in the first person from Lizzy’s point of view. The chapter heads are named after different literary devices such as Foreshadowing, Aphorisms, and Proofreading; each chapter leads in with Lizzy’s explanation to her teacher that links the chapter head with the story; how Lizzy learned in her class what each device means, and then proceeds with her story. The characters are fairly well-written and the storyline is interesting, with the skeleton of Arthurian legend built in and fleshed out with a more modern perspective that will appeal to younger readers (and hopefully, get them interested in the tales of King Arthur). There is not a lot linking Drake to his role as Arthur’s Last Descendant – perhaps that will come in time, if <em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Death Catchers</em> becomes a series; for this book’s purpose, he is merely the plot device and provides a romantic interest that should keep girls reading.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Jennifer Kogler is a YA/Teen author primarily writing fantasy. Her</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><a href="http://www.jenniferannekogler.com/" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">author website </a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">allows readers to e-mail her and offers links to her blog, more information about her books, and readers guides for The Death Catchers and her other book,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Otherworldlies.</em></div>
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Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589347913150864946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15006694.post-24778513580940238262012-11-20T22:14:00.002-05:002012-11-20T22:14:24.948-05:00Book Review: Freaks Like Us, by Susan Vaught (2012, Bloomsbury)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRSKdP22U8tHbwcqdd5sm-2iAXMykGnfMcNlLtdGzazY_nGFUL6AGolAGszOFx6iS2ngmAtQXjxfNFAop9ZQCioeTv_MNNk4LzkWBLgQrFifJjTZe4fQqmo9ABgzt6hcF42KOJ/s1600/freaks+like+us.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRSKdP22U8tHbwcqdd5sm-2iAXMykGnfMcNlLtdGzazY_nGFUL6AGolAGszOFx6iS2ngmAtQXjxfNFAop9ZQCioeTv_MNNk4LzkWBLgQrFifJjTZe4fQqmo9ABgzt6hcF42KOJ/s1600/freaks+like+us.jpg" /></a></div>
Recommended for ages 14+<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Freak, Sunshine, and Drip are best friends in high school. They also happen to be in the SED (severely emotionally disturbed) class. Jason – Freak – is schizophrenic, plagued by voices he names Bastard and Whiner; he also has the “no-names” that play out as a kind of chorus. Drip (Derrick) has ADHD. Sunshine (her real name) is a selective mute, but trusts Jason and Derrick enough to speak to them. Bullied by school antagonist Roland, they stick together and protect each other. One day, when Sunshine gets off at her bus stop, she disappears; Jason and Derrick are two of the suspects when the authorities get involved, and Jason seems to know more than he’s letting on – or is it just the voices again?</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Freaks Like Us</em> gives the reader a suspense story featuring an interesting group of characters – a group of severely disturbed high school kids. The whole point of the mystery relies on their being unreliable narrators, because the reader is not quite sure, through most of the book, what is real and what may or may not be. Throw in a federal agent who is all too willing to believe that the “freaks” are the easy culprits, and you have a page-turning mystery. Told in the first person from Jason’s point of view, the reader is hit with all of the activity happening in Jason’s head – the voices, the flashbacks, and the frustration of having concrete memories just out of reach plaguing him.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The characters’ backgrounds are well-drawn, with flashbacks and memories revealing more to the reader as the book goes along. Agent Mercer is one of the more interesting characters in the book – he is initially drawn as the cop you want to hate, but he’s revealed to be more than a one-dimensional bad cop.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Susan Vaught writes realistic teen fiction; she’s dealt with obesity, sexting, and attempted suicide. Her author</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><a href="http://susanvaught.com/" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">website </a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">offers information about the author, her books, and interviews. She also writes about things that interest her, like her current love of the book and HBO series, Game of Thrones.</span></div>
Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589347913150864946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15006694.post-55848523768138602162012-11-20T22:11:00.004-05:002012-11-20T22:12:23.406-05:00Book Review: Close to Shore (Adapated for Young People), by Michael Capuzzo (2003, Crown Publishers)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitrctksPKwY0fYUv8d3ZcYZg-KMZOSfyMSzme-TgAdpy-TrYzfeuwekx9t0gpITSecQ8qDF2joApxoIB4ij0-rOhLAY5-zks6_-WBRnKoKNQcnwaBEKIpMLEaCVYlaDmw9fHl8/s1600/closetoshore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitrctksPKwY0fYUv8d3ZcYZg-KMZOSfyMSzme-TgAdpy-TrYzfeuwekx9t0gpITSecQ8qDF2joApxoIB4ij0-rOhLAY5-zks6_-WBRnKoKNQcnwaBEKIpMLEaCVYlaDmw9fHl8/s1600/closetoshore.jpg" /></a></div>
Recommended for ages 12+<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Close to Shore</em> provides a look at the great white shark attacks along the New Jersey shore during the summer of 1916; four people were killed (three men, one boy) and one was maimed. Before these attacks, sharks were not widely considered harmful to humans.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Believed to have been caught up in a strong subtropic current, the young great white shark was carried from Florida to shallow waters near the New Jersey shore. Not much is known about the shark, but it is assumed that the shark was starving and sensed prey close to the shores of Beach Haven and Asbury Park - two resort areas in Southern New Jersey – and the very shallow, brackish waters in the residential area of Matawan. The shark attacked and killed four men, including two young boys, in shallow waters, leading many to scoff at the idea of a shark attack; many posited that a marlin, sea turtle, or killer whale were all more likely culprits. As more onlookers witnessed attacks, there was no hiding it any longer: sharks were killers after all. Beach goers panicked despite attempts to put wire fences in place to keep them safe and experts came in from the American Museum of Natural History to figure out what was going on. The attacks would later be fictionalized by author Peter Benchley in his now-famous novel, <em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Jaws</em>, made into a movie by director Steven Speilberg in 1975.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Loaded with pictures, maps and news clippings, <em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Close to Shore</em> offers a gripping account of the 1916 shark attacks on the New Jersey shore. The book is nonfiction, but the author attempts to give the reader a glimpse into the shark’s mindset as he moves through his narrative. He paints a picture of a starving beast, driven half-mad by being dragged through a current from Florida to the colder waters of New Jersey, and unable to feast on its prey by constant interruptions. He provides stories on each of the victims, allowing the reader to get to know these people and thus feel for them and their families.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The reader also sees the evolution of a theory through the eyes of scientists who first claimed that sharks were not dangerous to humans, their initial resistance to the very idea of a shark attack being responsible for the deaths in the resort towns, and finally, the understanding that yes, sharks are dangerous and will attack man. It is a solid piece of journalism.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i>Close to Shore </i>received the </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Blue Ribbon Nonfiction Book Award.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Michael Capuzzo is a four-time Pulitzer Prize nominee. He spent two years researching</span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Close to Shore</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, and released an adult and YA copy of the book. His</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Michael-Capuzzo/104107406293270" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">Facebook </a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">fan page is a copy of his Wikipedia page, and his Simon & Schuster</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><a href="http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Michael-Capuzzo/21475378" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">author page </a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">does not mention</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Close to Shore</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">as it was published by a different publisher. However you can sign up for author alerts on the publisher page.</span></div>
Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589347913150864946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15006694.post-62903694885595390712012-11-19T21:42:00.000-05:002012-11-19T21:42:11.525-05:00Book Review: Butter, by Erin Jade Lang (2012, Bloomsbury)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh4odsmDuRCYpBX4z0R_dTh4OfXZ8yNEXcuGXB-YbEBtSi0P8Ax2x37mWiomgJtPy8XpTp07-bsO4pRmQBO379py41Pn6CFWkU2lAFJ_vBll7YSaqa_ZnYX6Oov0g062kHv0sa/s1600/butter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh4odsmDuRCYpBX4z0R_dTh4OfXZ8yNEXcuGXB-YbEBtSi0P8Ax2x37mWiomgJtPy8XpTp07-bsO4pRmQBO379py41Pn6CFWkU2lAFJ_vBll7YSaqa_ZnYX6Oov0g062kHv0sa/s320/butter.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
Recommended for ages 14+<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">Butter, as his classmates call him, as on obese teen with diabetes. His relationship with his parents is the definition of dysfunctional, with a father who can barely stand to look at him, let alone talk to him, and a mother who vacillates between trying to get him to eat healthier and indulging him with food. Bullied by his peers, he puts a message up on a school blog where he promises to stream a live webcast of his last meal – he plans to eat himself to death on video on the coming New Year’s Eve.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">The news turns him into a school celebrity as his classmates’ morbid curiosity gets the better of them. Seemingly overnight, a group of cool kids wants to hang out with him and invites him to their table; he’s taking menu requests and learns that there are betting odds on what his last meal will consist of. Some of his new “friends” decide to take it upon themselves to put together a “bucket list” – a list of things to do before he “kicks the bucket” – which includes getting him close enough to Anna, a schoolmate that he crushes on. Only Butter knows that he and Anna already have a relationship – online. Under his username “SaxMan”, he has Anna believing he’s a kid from a neighboring school and they flirt online. As Butter’s days get closer, he starts waffling. He has never been this popular, but if he does not go through with his intention, he will be more of an outcast than ever.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Butter</em> is a compulsive read. Told in the first person, we see life through Butter’s jaded eyes and gain an understanding of his motivations. A pessimist who wants to be an optimist, if only everyone would stop letting him down, he feels powerless to change his life because he makes everyone around him responsible for it. He appreciates beauty in life but does not feel entitled to it because of what he looks like. Every character is created from shades of grey; there are no black and whites. Even the bullies have pathos; morbidly fascinated by Butter, they genuinely want to help him, as they would a dying friend, to enjoy what’s left of his life. Readers may understand his classmates’ fascination; in this reality television-centric age, shows like<em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Celebrity Rehab</em> and <em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Jersey Shore</em> put people at their worst on television for all to see. Butter is a complex character: sarcastic, witty, and incredibly likable. His fractured relationship with his parents feeds a seething anger that triggers his binge eating.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Butter</em> is not a typical bullying story, and that’s exactly why teens should be reading it. It offers many different points of view with well-drawn characters. The adults have their own reasons and motivations that keep the story going, rather than acting as window dressing.</span></span></div>
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<em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Butter</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">is author Erin Jade Lange’s first novel. Her author</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><a href="http://erinlange.com/" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">website </a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">features a blog (Butter’s Last Meal), contact information, and information about her upcoming books.</span></div>
Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589347913150864946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15006694.post-3197172461718116912012-11-19T21:40:00.003-05:002012-11-19T21:40:22.026-05:00Book Review: Hitler Youth, by Susan Campbell Bartoletti (2005,Scholastic)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Recommended for ages 12+<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Hitler Youth movement sought to harness the power of youth in Nazi Germany even as Hitler felt that he could more easily manipulate young minds. These are their stories.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Using photographs and text, <em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Hitler Youth</em> provides a look at Hitler’s Nazi Germany as seen through the eyes of the young people who were swept up into the Hitler Youth movement, and some who opposed him. The book follows historical events from Hitler’s rise to Germany’s defeat and spotlights 12 teenagers who were on both sides of the Hitler Youth movement.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We learn about the brutal practices Hitler youth endured under the guise of “camping”, including forced marches and weapons training; we learn how the Hitler Youth was a breeding ground for the Nazi armed forces, particularly the SS. We read, through teens’ observations, how Hitler twisted his words and used deception so that the children never understood the full scope of what they participated in. When the war was over, the Allied forces took these children and teens to liberated concentration camps in order to view up close what they contributed to.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We also learn about those youth who disagreed with HItler and gave their lives in defiance of his lies: the teen who listened to secret British radio broadcasts and distributed flyers, and the brother and sister team who were part of the White Rose group, another leaflet distrubution organization that called for passive resistance. The book ends with an epilogue that follows the teens profiled and where they are today.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Hitler Youth</em> provides a look at Nazi Germany from a vantage point readers do not normally get: that of the teenagers in the Hitler Youth movement. Providing readers with these teens’ own words brings home the impact and the understanding even more, as modern readers are able to better connect with a teenage mindset. It allows for an understanding of how a nation of children could be swept up in such a movement and take part in such activities even as it illustrates the ways that everyday, ordinary teens of the time found ways to push back against the tide. Photographs from personal collections, the Holocaust Museum and National Archives also provide visual confirmation of the events, creating a stronger ability to identify and process this time in history.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Hitler Youth </i>received </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Newbery Honors (2006); Sibert Honor (2006); Orbis Pictus Honor (2006); Parents Choice Award (Gold Winner, 2006), and the Carolyn W. Field Award (2006).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Susan Campbell Bartoletti is an award-winning author of fiction and nonfiction for teens. Her</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><a href="http://www.scbartoletti.com/" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">website </a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">provides author information, contact information, her blog, and more about her books.</span></div>
Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589347913150864946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15006694.post-45493293260054140872012-11-19T21:37:00.001-05:002012-11-19T21:37:08.796-05:00Book Review: Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan (2006, Knopf)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Recommended for ages 14+<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Nick, the only straight member of a queercore punk band, is playing a show at a New York club when the ex-girlfriend who broke his heart shows up with her new boyfriend. Trying to not reveal how hurt he still is, he asks a random girl nearby to be his girlfriend “for the next five minutes”.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The random girl is Norah, the daughter of a famous music exec, who is all too familiar with Nick’s ex and dealing with a breakup of her own. She finds herself attracted to Nick, but doesn’t want to get involved for a myriad of reasons.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The rest of the novel plays out in New York City as Nick and Norah fall for each other against a backdrop of punk rock, Russian food, and lots of self-examination. We learn more about Nick’s ex, Tris - a friend of Norah’s – and Norah’s relationship with her ex. Tris and Nick’s bandmate, Dev, offer relationship advice. We see the inner confidence crisis playing out in both their heads as they come up with reasons why one couldn’t possibly fall for the other. Ultimately, Nick tracks Norah down at a Russian eatery, where things fall into place as they let their guards down and talk to one another.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Written from both Nick’s and Norah’s point of view in alternating chapters, the authors h</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ave gotten the teen voices down pat. Their voices will speak to teen readers who likely have, or have felt, the same relationship angst and the driving backdrop of the New York City punk scene will appeal to many teens, as will the concept of the playlist: a list of songs covering particular themes that Nick creates for his girlfriends. The book comes with its own suggested playlist for readers to download and enjoy. At times, the obsessive self-rumination on each character’s point grows a bit tedious, but will likely appeal to teen readers experiencing the same emotions. The characters are as fleshed out as they need to be, with personality reveals to the reader arriving at the same pace as they do to both Nick and Norah, allowing the reader to feel as if he or she is in real time with the characters.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.rachelcohn.com/" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">Rachel Cohn </a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><a href="http://www.davidlevithan.com/" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">David Levithan </a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">have written three books together:</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(2006), N</span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">aomi and Ely’s No Kiss List</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(2007), and</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(2010). Rachel Cohn’s book</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Gingerbread</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">is an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, an ALA Top Ten Quick Pick for Young Adults, and a</span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Publisher’s Weekly</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">School Library Journal</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Best Book of the Year. David Levithan is a Lambda Literary Award-winning writer of teen fiction with a GLBT (gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender) bent, including</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Boy Meets Boy</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Realm of Possibility. </em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">His books have also been chosen as ALA Top 10 Best Books for Young Adults and ALA Quick Picks. Their websites link to one another. Random House’s Nick & Norah</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/teens/nickandnorah/home.php#news" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">website </a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">allows visitors to make and upload their own playlists, download audio excerpts of their books, and access characters’ blogs.</span></div>
Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589347913150864946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15006694.post-14054890754287869152012-11-19T02:00:00.002-05:002012-11-19T02:00:31.913-05:00Book Review: Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began, by Art Spiegelman (1991, Pantheon)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWBLDh5mX7uqjEVvSB0D19BW-g4o8puIEttJOk6pkKcUAmvehv67wmmnOvGc8lOzY-vMoROqMeavQ4zcUDnqJu6-aCktdjVC3FG7nWflITWbCD_kEzd9N7W_uaDCsLh6-q5CoB/s1600/maus_21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWBLDh5mX7uqjEVvSB0D19BW-g4o8puIEttJOk6pkKcUAmvehv67wmmnOvGc8lOzY-vMoROqMeavQ4zcUDnqJu6-aCktdjVC3FG7nWflITWbCD_kEzd9N7W_uaDCsLh6-q5CoB/s320/maus_21.jpg" width="223" /></a></div>
Recommended for ages 13+<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Picking up where <em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Maus I</em> leaves off, <em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Maus II </em>continues the story of Art Spiegelman’s tumultuous relationship with his father, a Holocaust survivor, and tells the story of his parents’ arrival at Auschwitz through to their liberation.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After arriving at Auschwitz, Vladek and Anja are separated. Most of the story, related through Vladek’s eyes, covers Vladek’s day-to-day survival and the horrors he witnessed – the ovens, tthe brutality, and the daily fights to live and eat. He talks about the friendships he made and the often sobering reality that these friends went away one day, never to be seen again. He manages to find someone in the women’s camp to keep an eye on Anja and protect her, but when Anja is moved to Birkenau, he loses track of her.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Maus II </em>is also Art’s attempt to work through his mother’s suicide and father’s death in 1986. He reveals his being overwhelmed with <em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Maus’ </em>success and his depression at not being able to match up to his father; he also explores Vladek’s survivor’s guilt over Auschwitz.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Maus II </em>is every bit as compelling as its predecessor. <em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Maus</em> introduced readers to Vladek and illustrated the beginnings of the Nazi persecution of the Jews, and <em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Maus II </em>tells the story of survival at Auschwitz. We see the prisoners’ desperation, the fights over crusts of bread, and the Nazis’ cruelty. The misery is starkly drawn in black and white. Reading this second half of <em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Maus</em>, the reader can better understand the events that shaped Vladek, including his insistence on having things done his way and his obsession with his money being taken from him. We also see how Art’s parents’ experiences have shaped Art’s life. Surrounded by Holocaust survivors, from his parents to his own therapist, Art cannot separate from his father’s image; an image he does not feel he matches up to.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Maus II received the </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_%26_Moritz_Prizes" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">Max and Moritz </a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Special Prize (1990); Eisner and Harvey Awards (1992), and the <i>L</i></span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">os Angeles Times</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Book Prize (1992).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Art Spiegelman and his wife, artist Francoise Mouly, have worked together on</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Raw</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The New Yorker</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. His success with</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Maus</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">brought critical acclaim to comic books and helped bring the medium serious, scholarly attention.</span></div>
Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589347913150864946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15006694.post-28574303276589653722012-11-19T01:58:00.000-05:002012-11-19T02:01:44.511-05:00Book Review: Maus 1: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History, by Art Spiegelman (1986, Pantheon)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEf6JacoUNB0LhTqiDsRmdJNWgobkTWr7VyJslGqBqk-nVx8Wrj4P2lEelGgcs6yeVoC4UGDmzmUO5uy-E5mgiuWh9ZyDVcSDLGdmyaUArSfwug0LhD6L188kAo-jD2gBXzSj8/s1600/Maus+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEf6JacoUNB0LhTqiDsRmdJNWgobkTWr7VyJslGqBqk-nVx8Wrj4P2lEelGgcs6yeVoC4UGDmzmUO5uy-E5mgiuWh9ZyDVcSDLGdmyaUArSfwug0LhD6L188kAo-jD2gBXzSj8/s320/Maus+1.jpg" width="229" /></a></div>
Recommended for ages 13+<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Maus simultaneously tells the story of Art Spiegelman’s father, Vladek, and his survival during World War II (including his imprisonment in Auschwitz), and of Spiegelman’s often tumultuous relationship with his father.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The story begins in the 1970s when Art visits with his father and his father’s second wife, Mala, to learn more about his father’s life in Poland during the war for a book he wants to draw. Art’s mother, Anja, also a survivor of the camps, committed suicide in 1968. Vladek begins the story of how he courted Anja, their marriage and firstborn son, Richieu, and how Hitler came to power, bringing with him an increasingly hostile and unsafe Germany for Jews. The story concludes with Vladek and Anja in hiding after Germans begin putting Jews on trains to the camps.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The reader also learns quite a bit about the relationship between Vladek and Art. A complicated relationship, the reader sees Art’s – and Mala’s – frustration with Vladek, who comes across as argumentative, cantankerous and miserly. He is quick to accuse Mala of wanting only his money, even stealing from him and he wants Art should be living more frugally. <em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Maus</em> is Art’s attempt to reconcile Art’s own feelings about his father by learning about what made him the man Art knows as much as it is his attempt to tell his father’s story.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Maus</em> is told in words and pictures, and these pictures have brought Spiegelman under fire in the past. He was accused of racism for his portrayal of Poles as pigs and French as frogs; he portrayed the Jews and Nazis as mice and cats and responded that all of his depictions were metaphorical. The story is starkly laid out in black and white, giving depth to the story and adding a layer of despair as the Jews’ situation worsens in Poland.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The parallel story of the relationship between Vladek and Art is equally prominent and fed by Vladek’s background. His experiences under the Nazis have formed him as they did his wife. Her suicide doubtless affects Vladek but he tries not to speak of it. The reader sees Vladek honestly and will respect him for what he’s lived through while seeing that he is a difficult man to love, despite his obvious love for his son. Vladek and Art have a complicated relationship, which many readers will understand. <em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Maus</em> stands as a very personal memoir of the second World War as well as a memoir of Art Spiegelman’s attempts to grow closer to his father.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Maus</i> won the 1992</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Pulitzer Prize and was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle in 1986 and 1991; it also received a Guggenheim Fellowship (1990).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Art Spiegelman is an American cartoon artist. In addition to</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Maus</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, he released</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In the Shadow of No Towers</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, which covers the events and psychological fallout of September 11th, 2001. He does not have a website, but has a page on</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ArtSpiegelman" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">Facebook</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span></div>
Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589347913150864946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15006694.post-44233088147867514442012-11-19T01:55:00.003-05:002012-11-19T01:55:28.182-05:00Book Review: The Academie, by Susanne Dunlap (2012, Bloomsbury)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK8_oG-VzyFL2mpC7hre19c-LYokDrF48T4zvkAxDAJYEUQgyUgU3Jh8gTw_mSqM_cRd7a7sTwtZAE6WxmeQoNl2PwypZIUMKQyw5YZXb1Bx3UhI0VFYco8_qEndvFp5ml_IKd/s1600/academie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK8_oG-VzyFL2mpC7hre19c-LYokDrF48T4zvkAxDAJYEUQgyUgU3Jh8gTw_mSqM_cRd7a7sTwtZAE6WxmeQoNl2PwypZIUMKQyw5YZXb1Bx3UhI0VFYco8_qEndvFp5ml_IKd/s320/academie.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>
Recommended for ages 14+<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Eliza Monroe, the daughter of future President James Monroe, is sent to finishing school in Paris by her mother. There, she meets Hortense de Beauharnais, daughter of Josephine Bonaparte – Napoleon’s stepdaughter, and Caroline Bonaparte, Napoleon’s youngest sister. The two young women dislike one another; Napoleon’s family feels he married beneath him when he married Josephine. Eliza falls in with both girls but ends up caught in the middle.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Told against the backdrop of Napoleon’s rise to power in France,The Academie is told from the points of view of Eliza, Caroline, Hortense, and a young woman, Madeleine, whose life intersects with the girls when she falls in love with Hortense’s brother Eugene, one of Napoleon’s officers.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The story, written in first person from four different points of view, is a piece of historical fiction based on some historical accuracy. Eliza Monroe did attend finishing school in Paris at the same time as Hortense de Beauharnais and Caroline Bonaparte. Reading like <em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Mean Girls</em> set in post-revolutionary France, there is not a lot of plot to work with, and the characters are not terribly well-developed. The book seems to concentrate on the romantic relationships that all four young women are trying to cultivate, with the story of Napoleon’s rise thrown in just enough to provide historical background to the story.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Susanne Dunlap writes historical YA fiction. Her</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><a href="http://susannedunlap.com/Susanne_Dunlap/Home.html" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">website </a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">offers information about her other books, author information and availability for school visits, and a link to her blog.</span></div>
Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11589347913150864946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15006694.post-84509254653881654612012-11-19T01:53:00.003-05:002012-11-19T01:53:35.698-05:00Book Review: Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson (1999, Penguin)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFHpmSX02mTjWyuNLIvLBp6P4zF4IUUW8MH8Mew_yMcGYjqa_ogYKOkK3pn4mvcaAW3aJ9ch0VtTg1_loWLHMxsd0hjCSfZw-S95JBPsCQucUtd758EbVrcEJUBPW_BSUDJpdq/s1600/speak.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFHpmSX02mTjWyuNLIvLBp6P4zF4IUUW8MH8Mew_yMcGYjqa_ogYKOkK3pn4mvcaAW3aJ9ch0VtTg1_loWLHMxsd0hjCSfZw-S95JBPsCQucUtd758EbVrcEJUBPW_BSUDJpdq/s320/speak.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
Recommended for ages 13+<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Melinda Sordino should be enjoying her freshman year of high school; instead, she finds herself ostracized because she called the police after she was raped at a party she was at over the summer. No one knows about the rape – they just know that Melinda ruined their good time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Her best friend turns on her. Her rapist, an older student at the school, winks at her, tries to talk to her, enjoying the power he feels he has over her. Her parents attribute her withdrawl, skipping school and failing grades to a plea for attention and show no sympathy. Melinda copes by blocking much of the night’s events out and stops speaking almost entirely. One of the few people she seems to be able to speak with is her lab partner, David, a student who has no problem speaking up for himself and urges her to be more assertive. When her former best friend begins dating her rapist, Melinda knows that she must find the courage to break her silence.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Written in the first person,<strong style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </strong><em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Speak </em>is told from Melinda’s point of view. The reader gets her sense of isolation as she goes through the motions of day-to-day living, haunted by her rape but not quite dealing with it. It’s on the periphery of her memory, but she tries to move past it on her own rather than relive it. The most developed character we encounter is Melinda, but it isn’t an issue – she’s the person we need to know best; we know whatever she needs us to know about the other people around her. She has a scathing wit that endears her to the reader and shows a glimpse of the pre-assault Melinda. Readers may know someone who has been assaulted, have been assaulted themselves, or need to understand what happens in the aftermath of an assault, <em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">and Speak</em> is a book that should be read by teens, parents, and educators alike to facilitate conversations. The 10th Anniversary edition of the book includes a list of resources for sexual assault survivors, a discussion guide, and the author’s comments about censorship and on <em style="border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Speak</em> ten years later.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Speak</i> has received numerous awards and accolades. It was a National Book Award Finalist (1999); received the Golden Kite Award for Fiction from the </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) (2000); Horn Book Fanfare Best Book of the Year (2000); American Library Association (ALA) Best Book for Young Adults (2000); Printz Honor Book (2000); Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults (2000); Fiction QUick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers (2000);</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and was a </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">New York Times </em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Paperback Children’s Best Seller (2001, 2005).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Author Laurie Halse Anderson writes realistic fiction for teens. Her</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><a href="http://madwomanintheforest.com/" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #cd4517; cursor: pointer; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">website </a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">offers links to her blog, media, She also provides book club information for teachers and students interested in discussing her books event information, in addition to advice on addressing book challenges, research, and the writing process. She has a discussion board where teachers can collaborate and talk with the author. She also has a</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/#!/lauriehalseanderson" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #cd4517; cursor: pointer; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">Facebook</a> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">page.</span></div>
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